


Aftermath

by moonraver



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: (a lot), A little, AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angel is like 15 btw, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Depression, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mania, Manic Episodes, Many tags, Memory gaps, Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Panic Attacks, Pining, Slow Burn, angsty angst, black outs, it might be a little intense at times, lots of mental health stuff, the slowest of burns, these tags tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-16 12:37:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14811506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonraver/pseuds/moonraver
Summary: He could see it all; Pandora, the vaults, the Eridians, even Helios. All at once like the climax of an orchestra, a vivid crescendo of clarity, harsh and loud like the ringing in his ears. "I understand… everything!” The words didn’t catch the meaning quite right. It was more. He was more. And if he could just see a little further, a little more-Searing flesh, the smell, it was that smell, burning hair and-~I've been playing borderlands 2 atm and despite my best intentions cannot hate Jack at all, and instead keep making up little AUs for myself where he's less of an asshole.





	1. Mask

**Author's Note:**

> Other characters to be added later on and will change tags accordingly !

_He could see it all; Pandora, the vaults, the Eridians, even Helios. All at once like the climax of an orchestra, a vivid crescendo of clarity, harsh and loud like the ringing in his ears. "I understand… everything!” The words didn’t catch the meaning quite right. It was more. He was more. And if he could just see a little further, a little_ more- 

_Searing flesh, the smell, it was that smell, burning hair and-_

__~_ _

Jack had passed out at his desk again. There was still a mess all over the office – his office – and what was left of Tassiter; some of his face ripped off around his jaw and upper lip. Jack followed a small trail of blood with his eyes to a small clump of skin that had been almost carefully placed on the display cabinet in the corner of the room, by Tassiter’s other relics from Hyperion’s best and brightest moments in recent history. Clearly at some point, Jack must have decided that keeping a souvenir of the past week was a good idea. He wasn’t so sure now, with blood still thumping through his head like a drummer that couldn't keep time. It was a constant, loud reminder of the mess that those good for nothing bandits had left seared into his life, his space station, and his face. 

____

____

He practically jumped out from his chair, energy levels spiking from adrenaline, ready for a fight. He turned to look out at the scarred surface of Elpis and was horrified by his reflection gazing back at him through one eye, the other fused shut with a slowly healing wound. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to see out of it, he thought, lightly touching under it with a hesitant index finger. Definitely not healing any time soon, not without help. He’d go to the med bay but he didn’t want anyone to see him just yet. He had broken everything down to build it all up again, and he wanted respect, not stares.

There was a 3d printer hooked up to one of the vending machines in the side of the office, and he used Tassiter’s account to buy a few hundred rounds of ammo, and a new SMG with incendiary damage. He felt like he needed a little more than the trusty pistol he’d been carrying. He couldn’t hear anything outside of the office, which was worrying, but better than any alternative just now. He could live with the silence. What he couldn’t live with was the dull ringing still in his ears, the humming in his head, and the gap left by all the secrets that had been so close that were now even more out of reach. The first step to getting it all back would be fixing that face staring back at him where his reflection should be. 

A mask would be a good start. He could keep it while he healed, put on a good face for his new employees. _Literally_ put on a good face. He scanned himself and did a few quick touch ups to remove the scarring on the projection of the new mask – if only plastic surgery was as easy, he thought bitterly. After a few minutes he was already lining up the new mask with his own face, tensing before he latched the metal clasps into his own skin. The clasps didn’t actually hurt at all, which surprised him. There was some discomfort, but it was faint, very faint, compared to the rest of the pain he was already feeling. Better not to think about it now. He had a galaxy to run. 

____

____

~ 

From the time Jack had woken up, he realised there were a few gaps in his memory. He tried to call Angel back at the apartment but it went straight to the answer machine. The voice message was his own voice saying that he'd moved in to Tassiter's old place, made some awesome changes to the layout, not that you'd ever see it, also who even are you how did you get this number? No seriously. If you're hearing me, leave a message saying how you got this number, and also do yourself a favour and jump out the nearest airlock, it'll save custodial some clean up time. From cleaning you up. You are freakin dea- His voice cut out to a monotone female automated system: "Hyperion security is already on route to your location. Please leave a message after the tone. Or don't. But definitely don't try to run." 

Jack was aware of hours that were missing. They were happening less frequently, and he was no longer passing out on the daily, but something still felt off. Fifteen minute intervals of blank memory would turn out to be time spent sending some department head out an airlock - if they were lucky. Other times were worse; Jack would blink and suddenly be surrounded by blood and charred bodies. 

Admittedly, it wasn't all going as well he'd hoped. The violence was expected though, and welcomed by those around him that weren't directly involved. One less employee was one less rival keeping them from their dream job. Thinking like that was good for productivity. Jack also wanted to test out the mood of his new workers, make sure they feared him enough that they wouldn’t try anything stupid. 

He walked through the rest of the station, into the newly named hub of heroism that hadn’t been too scorched from the blast. There were already swarms of people drinking coffee, clipboards in hands, acting as though nothing had happened. He grinned as he walked, high on the power, on knowing all of it was his. People froze as they caught his eye, as though unsure whether they should stay put or start running. Jack was enjoying the attention. 

He walked straight to the front of the queue at the coffee station, employees scattering to let him through. Most of them were looking away. He ordered his drink from the very flustered barista, who shook a little as he handed the drink over immediately – he had already known Jack’s order, made it presumably as soon as he had seen him enter the hub. Jack smiled, and the new mask crushed against the wound around his eye a little. He could get used to this. 

~ 

Angel had not seen her dad since the takeover. She had watched it all avidly on the echonet through shaky mobile phone footage, only catching glimpses before the station had been hit. She had hidden until two loaderbots arrived at the apartment, sent by Jack to help her move all of their belongings to one of the main suites on the further side of the station. 

That had been almost a week ago now – her dad had been busy, she guessed. Too busy for sleep. She had been trying to keep track of everything through the echonet, but even Jack’s announcements over the comms had been a little off. He sounded different, more erratic. She would go and check on him, but he had left her a strict message saying it wasn’t safe for her to be seen around the station so soon after the takeover. She wasn't complaining; the new apartment was much bigger than where they'd been staying before. She liked having her own space to listen to music and read stories about siren vault hunters saving entire planets. 

The quiet she had gotten used to was broken by someone practically crashing into the open planned living area. “Dad!” She exclaimed, getting up to see him. 

“Angel.” Jack said, already sounding subdued in comparison to his almost manic speech patterns she had heard over the comms earlier that day; barely coherent ramblings about repairing the station faster than it had been damaged, threatening Helios board members with airlocks. Jack seemed different from that person now as he reached his arms out and embraced her. 

“What’s going on with this?” She gestured to his face, almost laughing, “Are you wearing a mask of yourself? What’s the deal?” 

Jack huffed in response. Let her go, went straight to the well-stocked fridge and rummaged around before picking out half of a pizza Angel had had ordered the day before. He was already wolfing it down by the time she made it over to the kitchen area, the large room separated by a few small steps up to the raised level. 

“What happened this week? On the echonet they were talking about a vault-” 

“No.” Jack spoke through a mouthful of pepperoni. 

“’No’ what?” 

“ _'No' _, we’re not talking about it. I’m here to tell you something else.” Jack paused to wolf down more pizza. “It’s not safe here. For you, on this station. You’re going to Pandora.”__

____

____

_"Pandora _?” Angel repeated in disbelief. “What the hell’s down on Pandora?”__

____

____

“Language- Ugh. Never mind. Angel, I have a giant ass target on my head, and if anyone else finds out about what you are, you’re gonna have one too. There’s a newly built Hyperion station down on Pandora, I’m sending a security detail down with you. It’s gonna be fun! Yeah. Like a fresh start. You always said you wanted to get off this station." 

“I wanted to have a life! You’re so protective. I hardly leave the apartment, you’ve scared away most of my friends-" 

“And that right there is your problem, sweetheart. No-one here is your friend. You think you can trust people? All they do is stab you in the back. I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you.” 

“You’re not going to let _anything _happen to me! God, I’m so sick of you! You know what? I’m glad I’m going to Pandora. Don’t even bother visiting.” Angel stormed over to her new room, slammed the door behind her. She was trying not to cry, the blue patterns on her skin glowing a little brighter with anger.__

____

____

______Jack hadn’t been there when she got out the next morning. Instead, the same two loaderbots that helped her move before were waiting there to help her pack just one box of her stuff. She left a note for her dad on the counter; she was sorry for yelling, but sorrier that she felt she had to. She was worried about him; he wasn’t being himself.______

___Angel had realised the mask wasn’t going away any time soon after she had snuck out to get snacks in the night and had seen him passed out on the couch with the mask still in place. She had walked up a little closer to look at the metal clips holding it in place. It looked painful. She didn’t understand, but she wasn’t going to question things either; Jack had always been an immovable force, even when she had been growing up. She thought about stubbornness running in the family after she refused to visit him in his office before she left, watching Helios get further and further away through her shuttle window._ _ _


	2. Skag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's this mysterious Atlas employee huh?

Time passed for Jack the way a fast river flows by, rapid and raging. Ever since the vault of the sentinel, he'd been able to go weeks hardly sleeping at all. There was too much to do to waste time with sleep.  
  
The worst days at work were ones like this - meetings, meetings all day. Stuck at his desk with actual work, admin stuff he couldnt throw away at someone else. Delegation is great, usually, but not without trust. Jack chose to scour through various equity notes and all of accounting transactions personally.  
  
Jack actually looking forward to _meetings _said a lot about his current workload. There was some Atlas rep that had arrived on Helios refusing to talk with anyone but him. Usually he would've airlocked anyone without the right clearance, but he'd watched the security feed from the hangar bay, and the kid looked harmless enough. He hadn't even been carrying a gun, not even _one _. Jack could admire anyone with the balls to walk around Helios without a gun. He kept at least 3 on him at all times, and he owned the damn place.____  
  
Jack watched the kid from the feed. He had a look about him like a lost skag pup. He was tall though, and well dressed for an Atlas employee - slicked back hair and black pinstripes. _Rhys _, he had called himself on his arrival. Refused to give any credentials.__  
  
Jack tapped at the screen to enhance the image. Looked closely at the cybernetic arm, spun cameras round to focus in on Rhys' face when he and the security detail were in the close quarters of the elevator. Jack spotted the neural import and the echo eye; not one of theirs. He wondered if the kid had modified it himself, impressed. He had always had a bit of a soft spot for biohackers, but more so since he'd been wearing the mask. He was always looking for ways to improve the quality of physical sensation through the mask.  
  
The doors to his office opening alerted him back to his present situation, the kid walking in unaided. Jack hated having security in his office. something about heavily armed guards ruined the atmosphere.  
  
Rhys walked up to the desk confidently, placing something in front of the older man proudly, like a pet bringing its owner a dead mouse.  
  
"What the hell is this?" Jack asked, not sure if he meant the thing on his desk or the whole situation. Jack started poking at the thing with a pen tentatively. He rolled it over on the desk, recognising a corneal implant, this one definitely Hyperion issue.  
  
"Just something I found down on Pandora. It's... yours."  
  
"It's mine?" Jack picked it up in his hand, held it close to his face. "This is Hyperion, but it's old. We don't issue them anymore. Too many bugs."  
  
"I'm not here to make a manufacturing complaint. I'm here to take Helios."  
  
Jack's eyebrow raised so high it hurt, mask pressing in as his face contorted into a squint smile. He laughed. "You're here to - to _take _Helios?" He looked up at the kid's face; still deadpan, cool and unreadable. "And what on Pandora would make you think I'd just give you my whole space station?"__  
  
"You know me. Or well, I know you. The echo eye - I was working with Atlas to get to a vault, but I found something else. I found you."  
  
Jack scowled, but motioned for the kid to continue. Listened pretty intently to a story riddled with vaults, bandits. An AI copy of himself. Jack squinted his eyes at the younger man, trying to gauge whether he was lying or not, but couldn't really read the guy at all. He looked a little nervous, but Jack had been staring at him in silence for a while now. Jack sighed.  
  
"That's a nice story kiddo. But what makes you think I'd believe any of it for a second?"  
  
"Because you - you like me. Because I know who you are, who you really are. Because I know about- Angel."  
  
Rhys faltered for the first time in his prepared speech, the rest of it all going to plan. AI Jack had said, mention Angel and he could forget about that promotion he'd been trying to get from Atlas; Helios would be his.  
  
AI Jack had failed to mention the amount of _rage _Jack would spew out after just hearing the name. Curse words pouring out of the older man's mouth, a jarring change from the level of composure he had been holding seconds before; he'd hardly interjected when Rhys had said his piece.  
  
Jack was still raging even after he had sent Rhys away. He wasn't sure why the kid was still alive - people had died for far less than using Jack's own daughter as leverage for corporate takeover. He was almost disappointed - the kid had turned out to be exactly the sort of lowlife, good-for-nothing that made him send his Angel away in the first place. A skag in sheep's clothing.__

**Author's Note:**

> Definitely a little different to what I'm used to writing! I might update this if you ask nice (currently have an actual writing deadline so here I am ofc -_-)♡


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